Free performances of 'Twelfth Night' on Boston Common

Thursday

Jul 17, 2014 at 12:20 PMJul 18, 2014 at 4:00 PM

By Alexander Stevens For The Patriot Ledger

BOSTON -- Commonwealth Shakespeare Company has been around for so long – 19 years – that the group is beginning to repeat itself. This summer marks the company’s second journey to Illyria, the setting of “Twelfth Night,” a show it also performed in 2001.

It’s a play that’s worth another visit. “Twelfth Night” is not only one of Shakespeare’s best comedies, “it’s one of his best plays,” said Steven Maler, founding artistic director of Commonwealth Shakespeare Company.

Shipwrecked, Viola gets washed up on the shores of Illyria, believing her twin brother to be dead. Disguised as a man, she works for Orsino, delivering his messages of love to Olivia. But Olivia falls in love with Viola, believing her to be a man. Mistaken identities prove once again that the course of true love is rarely smooth. But it’s the haunting mood of “Twelfth Night” that captures the hearts of so many directors, actors and viewers. Shakespeare offers a sensitive reflection on the complicated nature of love and loss.

“At the start of the play, there have been about five deaths,” said Maler. “So it’s about a journey from loss to joy and love.”

As usual, Maler has assembled a talented cast that revels in the midsummer night’s dream of performing before thousands of people during three weeks on Boston Common. Marianna Bassham plays Viola, Remo Airaldi plays Feste, and Fred Sullivan Jr. is Malvolio. Maler is confident that they are up to the challenge of performing Shakespeare’s multi-layered scenes.

“The play has these wild swings in tonality,” said Maler. “It goes from broad physical humor to beautiful, melancholic scenes about loss to meditations on death. We have a team that can strike all the chords of the play.”